tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57868810174771341762018-08-30T21:16:45.387-06:00Tech, Life, and Triathlon......in no particular order.
As anyone who does triathlon knows, triathlon training takes up gobs of time. Relationships/marriages are repeatedly tested, life gets put on hold, your availability revolves around your training and racing schedule.
This is an attempt to meld everything.Adam Gordonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-63621039551992939982015-05-15T11:48:00.000-06:002015-05-28T11:54:55.570-06:00Summer Open Triathlon Race Report<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first time I can remember, maybe ever, I was both confident and relaxed going into a race. &nbsp;They say the second night before a race is the most important night and to get a full night's rest and while I might argue that it should start about a week out, more, quality, sleep is better than none. &nbsp;Thursday night resulted in a quite crappy sleep with me waking up every few hours. &nbsp;But Friday night, I went to bed a little early and slept soundly with none of the pre-race jitters that usually keep you awake starting at 2am.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd set my alarm early enough to ensure I got to the race right as transition opened, only was a tad late and as a result didn't get the money transition spot. &nbsp;I did, however, still get a really decent one and set up my stuff. &nbsp;We were told four-to-a-rack, but that left lots of space and I knew from experience that late arrivals would move other, non-present athlete's stuff over to make room for theirs. &nbsp;Even knowing this, I took my bike out for a warmup ride since I'd never ridden the course before and couldn't drive it beforehand. &nbsp;It was only a 12.5-mile loop and I had plenty of time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had our own lane coming out of Union Reservoir and for the next several miles marked with cones. &nbsp;But when the road turned right, the cones stopped and I realized I didn't have directions or know the streets so I just winged it. &nbsp;Turns out, I guessed right and did manage to ride the entire loop. &nbsp;As I'd suspected earlier, coming back to my rack, someone else had racked there bike where mine would have gone. &nbsp;Thankfully, he was still there and I had him move his stuff over.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I finished setting up and started putting on my wetsuit. &nbsp;We still had ample time before starting, but I wanted to make sure I was acclimated to the water. &nbsp;Or, at least as much as possible given the 54º temperature. &nbsp;The water was cold and I got in as much of a warmup as I could manage - I didn’t want to start cramping.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We line up to start and I take a left of center position up front. &nbsp;The horn sounds and we’re off. &nbsp;I go out hard and strong and eventually someone catches me and passes but he’s going too fast for me to be able to hang on. &nbsp;I did most of the swim on my own, without drafting, which stinks, but sometimes is the nature of the beast. &nbsp;About 300-400m in my chest tightened up and I forced myself to relax and backed off. &nbsp;One of my points of emphasis this year is swimming less in training, and not working so hard on the swim in racing. &nbsp;Was it a good strategy, I don’t know, but I was 3rd in my AG on the swim.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T1 was a smooth transition with no issues. &nbsp;Due to the run over the muddy and grassy berm from the parking lot to the dirt road I chose not leave my cycling shoes clipped in to my pedals but I did when dismounting after the bike so in retrospect, I should have just left them clipped.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bike was uneventful. &nbsp;Only two riders passed me during the entire loop and neither were in my age group. &nbsp;I passed a ton of riders, but I stopped looking at age groups on people’s calves and just rode my race.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T2 was even smoother leaving my shoes clipped in to my pedals, but the problem was that due to the cold water and probably the airflow on the ride, my feet were completely numb - exactly like last year. &nbsp;I ran on stumps to my rack, dumped my helmet, pulled on my shoes, grabbed my race number and was off.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried to keep a high turn over on the run and was initially successful, but eventually slowed down. &nbsp;I don’t recall when I started feeling my feet again, but it was well after mile two. &nbsp;The out-and-back course was flat, having just been grated, but sported some rough spots with decently sized rocks churned up by the blade. &nbsp;There was also a massive puddle that had to be navigated. &nbsp;Only two guys passed me on the run, but neither were in my age group and I believe had started in a wave ahead of me so I already had at least three minutes on them. &nbsp;The second guy passed right before the finish and I should have held him off, but didn’t.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all, it felt like a really solid race for me at the time and was confirmed when I looked at the results later and saw that I’d made the podium, getting third.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Swim: &nbsp; &nbsp; 10:59 (3rd in AG, 31st overall)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">T1: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;1:14</span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Bike: &nbsp; &nbsp; 34:29 (3rd in AG, 31st overall)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">T2: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;0:40</span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Run: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;23:22 (6th in AG, 56th overall)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Total: &nbsp;1:10:46 (3rd/13 in AG, 29th overall)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to my wife, my coach&nbsp;<a href="http://billythekidtriathlete.com/" target="_blank">Billy Edwards</a>, my shop <a href="http://www.foxtrotwheel.com/" target="_blank">Foxtrot Wheel &amp; Edge</a>, my team <a href="http://foxtrotracingteam.com/" target="_blank">Foxtrot Racing</a>, sponsors&nbsp;<a href="https://guenergy.com/" target="_blank">GU Energy</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.rudyprojectusa.com/" target="_blank">Rudy Project</a>, multisport shop&nbsp;<a href="http://coloradomultisport.com/" target="_blank">Colorado Multisport</a>, for all the support.</span>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-15054654824598136592015-01-24T12:30:00.000-07:002015-01-28T15:43:11.310-07:00La Carrera - EpílogoI was pretty spent after the race as it was a fairly intense 75 minutes. &nbsp;The rain had let up and was done for the day. &nbsp;Most of the American delegation hung out at the finish line cheering on the rest of the competition whom I'd like to think was, at that point, pretty stoked to have anyone cheering for them, given the weather.<br /><br />At this point, we hadn't been given any indication that there wouldn't be any amateur awards and since Amy had won the female division, we packed up our gear and rode over to where the elite awards ceremony was to take place.<br /><br />We didn't have to wait long to witness history. &nbsp;The American National Anthem was played for Renee's win in the elite women's race. &nbsp;I have to believe that this was either the first time or certainly one of the very few times that song has been played on Cuban soil. &nbsp;Certainly since the revolution. &nbsp;I don't get goose bumps often, but man, I sure did then.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxGzi0pYLWRzINND9C6FRARcMtC80CJtnqTalJgxxe-RbDGQfTWR30mqjrBIoxWUhy0lVzv-RrS7TyE2GQwGw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0' /></div><br />All the Americans who'd remained at the conclusion of the awards ceremony gathered for a group picture with the president of USAT, Barry Siff, and the president of the ITU, Marisol Casado.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0na51nSSZn0/VMlbyXf_HRI/AAAAAAAADqg/iJnQKSlB0sw/s1600/itu.la.habana.post.awards.group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0na51nSSZn0/VMlbyXf_HRI/AAAAAAAADqg/iJnQKSlB0sw/s1600/itu.la.habana.post.awards.group.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making History</td></tr></tbody></table>Now that the festivities and competitions were over, for us anyway, we could get on with being tourists (even though, legally, American tourism is not allowed in Cuba). &nbsp;Some of the group decided to take a cab back to their hotels, but a group of about eight of us decided to ride back - in our Team USA gear. &nbsp;It must have been quite a sight for the Cubans seeing us ride through the streets. &nbsp;We got horn blasts and thumbs ups from bus drivers and stares from pedestrians. &nbsp;One driver sped on ahead of us, stopped in the middle of the three-lane road we were on and took pictures before we rode by.<br /><br />With all the rain, the ride back was very wet and very dirty. &nbsp;We tried to capture just how dirty our legs were but the photo doesn't quite do it justice.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PAvoXIB_pGk/VMldig__bDI/AAAAAAAADqs/GcwrFktut-c/s1600/itu.la.habana.dirty.legs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PAvoXIB_pGk/VMldig__bDI/AAAAAAAADqs/GcwrFktut-c/s1600/itu.la.habana.dirty.legs.jpg" height="152" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dirty Legs</td></tr></tbody></table>We agreed to meet on a time for dinner and broke up to go get cleaned. &nbsp;I didn't even bother trying to ride back to my hotel this time, instead opting for a cab.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0Havana, Cuba23.159167 -82.27105599999998722.691622 -82.916502999999992 23.626712 -81.625608999999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-34629727681117287002015-01-24T10:30:00.000-07:002015-05-26T11:47:31.752-06:00La Carrera<div>This was not Cuba's first time hosting a triathlon, but it was the first time hosting one so official as an ITU competition that was also a championship race. &nbsp;They still have a lot to learn.<br /><br />We used the same racks as the elites, but more were set up. &nbsp;We discovered shortly that they weren't actually stable, being held together by zip ties and duct tape. &nbsp;As more bikes were racked, the problem erupted with all the racks (and thus, bikes) falling down in domino fashion. &nbsp;After a conversation between the ITU officials, it was decided that we would use the ground as our transition area which meant the bikes were lying down too.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KGjj4d3phcY/VMllEffT0HI/AAAAAAAADrY/zgWaE0LhXw4/s1600/itu.la.habana.transition.area.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KGjj4d3phcY/VMllEffT0HI/AAAAAAAADrY/zgWaE0LhXw4/s1600/itu.la.habana.transition.area.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Because everyone and everything was so wet, body marking was impossible and was effectively nonexistent. &nbsp;We had timing chips, but in retrospect, I'm not sure what for as no age group results for the sprint were ever posted. &nbsp;I managed to get in a very brief warm-up swim near the water exit ramp.</div><div><br /></div><div>The swim lay in the closed end of the marina, the water level of which was not ground level, but rather a good two meter drop from the top of the retaining wall at ground level. &nbsp;We lined up on the wall before someone pointed out that it was probably not a good idea to have amateurs dive in and that having an in-water start was best. &nbsp;We all jumped in and treaded water next to the wall attempting to avoid the rocks, shellfish, and other sea life that dotted the bottom.</div><div><br /></div><div>Out of nowhere the horn blew and we were off. &nbsp;I tried to hang with the lead swim pack but after only 3 weeks back into training they eventually started pulling away. &nbsp;They were fast and I never found the fast feet that I normally do so my swim time wasn't my best. &nbsp;I managed to average 1:40/100m for the 750m. &nbsp;Out of the water and up the ramp there's another American right in front of me. &nbsp;I think he passed me in the last 100m of the swim. &nbsp;We are the first two Americans out of the water.<br /><br />Unused to the current transition situation of everything lying on the ground, I completely miss my bike, but not by too much. &nbsp;Not trusting the situation for leaving my shoes clipped in, I'd unclipped them and left them on the ground. &nbsp;I slap them on and proceed to mount too early. &nbsp;I'm used to a clearly marked and labeled mount line. &nbsp;Running a bit further, I find the correct mount line, mount a second time and headed out on the bike.<br /><br />The rain had stopped, but only temporarily. &nbsp;At some point during the first of four laps on the bike, the skies opened up again and didn't stop. &nbsp;I recall a Cuban kid riding up ahead but continuously looking back, like he was waiting for me to bridge the gap. &nbsp;We were told it was not a draft legal race and so I remember thinking this odd. &nbsp;He hops on my wheel and I just hammer on. &nbsp;Turns out, it was a draft legal race and so he got to recover in my draft while I, being so worried about a penalty, dropped back out of the draft zone every time he pulled ahead. &nbsp;We eventually overtake another rider somewhere from Central America, I don't remember where. &nbsp;He hops on our wheel and a little later I hear a yell from whom I think is the cuban and feel someone rubbing my back wheel. &nbsp;I turn and the second kid has pulled off to my right. &nbsp;I yell something about keeping his line and to pay attention. &nbsp;He takes off and I don't know if I scared or motivated him (or even if he finished), but I never saw him again.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vWLg0MXPybc/VMllSMOeSpI/AAAAAAAADrg/ECKGVzft9Xk/s1600/itu.la.habana.race.rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vWLg0MXPybc/VMllSMOeSpI/AAAAAAAADrg/ECKGVzft9Xk/s1600/itu.la.habana.race.rain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div>The Cuban kid clearly wanted to work together but I still didn't know it was a draft legal race so I did all the work and continued to drop back when he overtook. &nbsp;We ride our laps in the pouring rain through massive puddles praying no potholes lurk beneath the surface. &nbsp;I had a damn good bike for a January and only three weeks of training. &nbsp;My normalized power turned out to be 240 watts, only five shy of my 2014 peak.</div><div><br /></div><div>We come into T2 and I don't even bother with my socks as everything is just soaked. &nbsp;I start running and I feel my feet sliding around in my shoe. &nbsp;Not a great situation to be in when one is looking for stability.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VhNnddTTJnU/VMllakawkfI/AAAAAAAADro/G3nE6USAEFA/s1600/itu.la.habana.adam.run.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VhNnddTTJnU/VMllakawkfI/AAAAAAAADro/G3nE6USAEFA/s1600/itu.la.habana.adam.run.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />A few km into the run, an American passes me and I can't keep up. &nbsp;My Cuban biking buddy is long gone up the road. &nbsp;The rain continues to pour. &nbsp;A little while later, the lead female, also an American, passes me. &nbsp;I remember when my run used to be strong and vow that this year my run results will be different from 2014. &nbsp;Three years off from racing and two knee surgeries did their job well. &nbsp;I stay mentally strong and gut out a finish. &nbsp;The run was long by nearly 500m but I'd managed a sub 8:00 pace. &nbsp;Not great, but for January, it was fine.<br /><br />Results were never posted so I have no idea on placing, but I was fairly close to the front.<br /><br />Swim: &nbsp;12:29, 750m<br />Bike: &nbsp;37:14, 20km<br />Run: &nbsp;26:36, 5.5km</div>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0Havana, Cuba23.159167 -82.27105599999998722.691622 -82.916502999999992 23.626712 -81.625608999999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-53631940608733946612015-01-24T08:30:00.000-07:002015-02-06T16:55:47.899-07:00Día de la CarreraI wake up Saturday morning knowing I wouldn't be able to make the elite women's race which went off a little too early. &nbsp;This turned out to be too bad as the US women placed 1-2. &nbsp;I had already intended to watch the men's race so I gather all my race gear and schlep my bike downstairs. &nbsp;I get a taxi driven by a guy jamming to Lionel Richie off a USB stick plugged into his radio. &nbsp;While most of the cabs are from the 50's, nearly all have retrofitted Pioneer or Kenwood quality stereos that play CDs or take pin drives. &nbsp;We head towards the race venue with my official race bracelet acting like magic as my taxi is waived through checkpoints at which he would have otherwise been forced to stop. &nbsp;My driver was very happy and impressed.<br /><div><br /></div><div>I get to the race site and meet up with some of the other US athletes. &nbsp;The US men are warming up and I say hello to former Boulder resident and fellow FAC member Dan McIntosh, who now resides in San Diego but whom I'd unexpectedly run into at the the airport in Mexico City waiting for our Cuba flight. &nbsp;None of the US men had a great day, but one climbed his way to sixth with solid run - even after being stuck in the first chase pack on the bike. &nbsp;At some point during the men's race, the skies opened up and it absolutely poured. &nbsp;Everyone tried to huddle under any awning or tent that could be found. &nbsp;The rain let up by the time the men finished racing, but it was only temporary.</div>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/108721148272824570004noreply@blogger.com0Havana, Cuba23.159167 -82.27105599999998722.691622 -82.916502999999992 23.626712 -81.625608999999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-73906594142488307872015-01-23T21:30:00.000-07:002015-02-06T16:54:02.232-07:00Friday Afternoon/Evening<div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At this point, I still need to go and pick up my race packet so I look on the map for the marina where the race venue is hosted. &nbsp;It's just on the opposite edge of the map from my hotel. &nbsp;It doesn't look far so I decide to ride. &nbsp;What the map doesn't show, however, is that the most direct route does not allow bikes. &nbsp;I take it as far as I can before tackling the unlabeled side streets. &nbsp;15 miles later (it's 8 in reality) I finally get to the marina and check out the only part of the course that was listed online. &nbsp;I see an old man riding an ancient Peugeot and ask where packet pickup is located. &nbsp;He's missing most of his teeth so I didn't really understand, but got the gist that it was back the way I came. &nbsp;I ask the guards at the entrance to the marina and they give me better directions. &nbsp;I find the location and get my packet before swinging by the mechanics tent to inflate my tires to the proper solidity. &nbsp;Having killed both my bottles, I look for a safe refill station. &nbsp;I find a bar that sells bottled water and while filling them up with the intention of riding home when done I see a large man wearing a Wisconsin Badgers cycling jersey and he's speaking English....to other people who are also speaking English. &nbsp;Hooray!</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was the rest of the U.S. contingent, or at least, a bunch of them. &nbsp;I follow and make contact. &nbsp;They were on an organized ride via a local from Canada who does Cuban bike tours. &nbsp;One of the riders, a radiologist, had hit a rock and gone down breaking his collarbone. &nbsp;Not good. &nbsp;I offer to watch bikes while some of the others get their packets. &nbsp;The rest contact the race officials and call an ambulance. &nbsp;It takes 30 minutes for it to arrive and I get the back story. &nbsp;Within a minute of him going down, a car stops to help. &nbsp;The occupants speak perfect English and it sounds like they just came from Brooklyn. &nbsp;We'd been told we would have minders; government officials following us. &nbsp;None of contingent believed it was a coincidence that they just happened to be there so quickly.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We get the doctor squared away and decide to ride back together meeting for dinner at 7 at La Hotel Nacional. &nbsp;We ride on the main road where bicycles are not allowed, but no one stops us. &nbsp;I show them the embassies, including the Russian compound, that I'd passed this morning. &nbsp;Just past it we get waved over by motorcycle police. &nbsp;We pull off on a side street and look at a map for legal road back. &nbsp;The police were totally cool and let us go. &nbsp;We get a lot of looks riding back taking care to dodge the rocks and potholes that litter Cuban streets. If Cuba does anything right, it's potholes. &nbsp;They are nasty. &nbsp;Even the cars have to avoid them.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We go back to the bike shop from where they'd originally left this morning and go our separate ways agreeing to meet for dinner. &nbsp;I attempt to ride back to my hotel which I know is only 2k up a road on which I'm not allowed to ride, taking side streets. &nbsp;40 minutes later, I arrive back at the intersection from where I started and sheepishly figured I'd just brave the sidewalks. &nbsp;It was starting to get late and I didn't want to miss dinner with the group. &nbsp;I get to my hotel, shower, change, gather up all the donations I'd brought and grab a taxi to take me back to the bike shop. &nbsp;But I realize, I have no idea where it is or what it's called - there is no sign, &nbsp;I vaguely recall the area and so my driver goes up and down streets helping me look for it. &nbsp;He's a good sport about it. &nbsp;I'm late, and we can't find it. &nbsp;He encourages me to get out and walk as many of the streets are one way and it's hard for him to navigate easily.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thankfully, I see the group standing on a street corner and ask them to wait while I drop off all the donations. &nbsp;We head to dinner led by the wife of our tour guide. &nbsp;The food was incredible. &nbsp;And ridiculously inexpensive. In the US, with that many people at that type of restaurant, dinner could have easily been over $700. &nbsp;It wasn't even $250.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kTERwQQ4x6s/VMlj-dJhQZI/AAAAAAAADrM/NuwVkaSrFgc/s1600/IMG_2781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kTERwQQ4x6s/VMlj-dJhQZI/AAAAAAAADrM/NuwVkaSrFgc/s1600/IMG_2781.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nearly every building in Cuba is falling apart or looks like it's about to</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I sat next to the wife of the guide; her name is Ana. &nbsp;She speaks some English but as the others fire way at each other in English she sits quietly. &nbsp;I engage her and get a history lesson. &nbsp;Cuba, with a few, clear exceptions, is not much different from the US. &nbsp;Prior to the revolution, people were racially segregated, blacks and whites (there are no Asians). &nbsp;After Castro took power, that all ended and forced integration was a result. &nbsp;Unlike the US, however, there are no racial tensions. &nbsp;But there are still stigmas attached to each race, VERY similar to the US. &nbsp;Havana is very safe and safety/security is taken extremely seriously. &nbsp;The healthcare system is very good. &nbsp;Most people are quite healthy and there are no fast food restaurants. &nbsp;It's still socialized medicine, so help takes a while. &nbsp;Our radiologist waited 4 hours to see someone. &nbsp;Ana explains that before she retired she, too, was a doctor. &nbsp;Only she made 30 CUCs/month. &nbsp;It's an impossible salary on which to live and she says that many Cubans survive because of relatives in the US sending back money.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After dinner, we walk back to the shop and split up with some of us opting for a walk. &nbsp;We walk along the sea wall and it is literally packed with teenagers, dressed like teenagers, doing teenager things (use your imagination). &nbsp;Nearly all of them have cell phones, which is ironic, because the cost to send a text message is more than many Cubans make in a day. &nbsp;The police are omnipresent but they only observe.</span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IxEbco4Xib0/VNVTbXRDZ0I/AAAAAAAAEkg/vB-i21jnTZk/s1600/malecon.seawall.havana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IxEbco4Xib0/VNVTbXRDZ0I/AAAAAAAAEkg/vB-i21jnTZk/s1600/malecon.seawall.havana.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Malecón</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ultimately, we wind up walking back to my hotel where some use the restroom before turning around and heading back. &nbsp;I remain, get my race gear together, and go to bed.</span></div>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/108721148272824570004noreply@blogger.com0Havana, Cuba23.159167 -82.27105599999998722.691622 -82.916502999999992 23.626712 -81.625608999999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-90483090441212600692015-01-23T10:00:00.000-07:002015-02-06T16:47:12.074-07:00Friday MorningI wake up Friday morning in a better place than I was the night before. &nbsp;But I had a knot in my stomach. &nbsp;I wasn't sure what to do. &nbsp;I was completely out of my element and not dealing with it well. &nbsp;While I speak a decent amount of Spanish, VERY few people speak any English and it's difficult to communicate effectively. &nbsp;I pull myself together and go to the hotel lobby for breakfast. &nbsp;I'm careful to avoid anything that looks raw as I have no idea what's safe at this point. &nbsp;I hear a Brit order food and watch him walk through the buffet. &nbsp;I decide an omelette with peppers is ok. &nbsp;It was.<br /><div><br /></div><div>I head to the front desk to ask about making change. &nbsp;The woman working informs me that this hotel doesn't make change and that I would have to go to the bank. &nbsp;I ask where it is and she tries to describe it before telling me to go upstairs to the gift shop to buy a map. &nbsp;I do, but the map is three CUCs and I only have 1 left from the previous night. &nbsp;She points out the street where all the banks are and lets the take the map making me promise to return and pay the additional two CUCs. &nbsp;I head back to my room, reassemble my bike and pack my bag to bike over there but finally decide that a cab is the best way to go. &nbsp;I load up my necessities: passport, Canadian dollars, health insurance card (we were told to carry it everywhere), wallet, and iPhone which is currently a $400 paperweight that can also play games.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6lRg64CYNyI/VMliv6aCy_I/AAAAAAAADrA/KbqRggdmOME/s1600/IMG_2774.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6lRg64CYNyI/VMliv6aCy_I/AAAAAAAADrA/KbqRggdmOME/s1600/IMG_2774.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from my room</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>I go downstairs and get a taxi explaining to the driver what I need to do. &nbsp;Change first, then a SIM card for my phone. &nbsp;Changing my currency was easy. &nbsp;We drive for a while to where a Cubacel office is passing all the embassies: &nbsp;Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Malaysia. &nbsp;We start passing one that keeps going and has a massive concrete tower that overshadows the entire compound. &nbsp;I ask what embassy. &nbsp;Russia. &nbsp;I forgot to take a picture of the Russian embassy, so I shamelessly ripped them off of Wikipedia. &nbsp;Like every other building, the embassies are old. &nbsp;The Russian embassy looks like something out of a Steven King novel. &nbsp;Old, greying concrete from the 50's comprises all the buildings. &nbsp;Seeing the brand new Audis parked in the compound is just flat out weird.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iq3uirtDNZI/VNVSLCO0BBI/AAAAAAAAEkM/efG3MNTzrfI/s1600/russian.embassy.havana.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iq3uirtDNZI/VNVSLCO0BBI/AAAAAAAAEkM/efG3MNTzrfI/s1600/russian.embassy.havana.1.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russian Embassy (courtesy Wikipedia)&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t6tQTpyXldo/VNVSLaqGMFI/AAAAAAAAEkI/i4jzGdB4NOA/s1600/russian.embassy.havana.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t6tQTpyXldo/VNVSLaqGMFI/AAAAAAAAEkI/i4jzGdB4NOA/s1600/russian.embassy.havana.2.jpg" height="218" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Russian Embassy (courtesy Wikipedia)</span></td></tr></tbody></table>We arrive at a Cubacel office but the line is at least 40 people deep. &nbsp;I ask if I can get a SIM card for my phone from one of the locals, a kid, waiting in line. &nbsp;He says yes, but I have zero interest in waiting for several hours. &nbsp;He takes me around to his buddies and asks them if any of them have an extra SIM card. &nbsp;They don't. &nbsp;I go back to my taxi and ask if there's any other offices. &nbsp;He says yes, but it's in the complete opposite direction of my hotel than we went. &nbsp;Disheartened, I told him to just take me back to my hotel, but he tells me wait a minute and we find a hole-in-the-wall satellite office on some random side street a few minutes from where we were. &nbsp;There were only a few people in line and one of them speaks perfect English. &nbsp;I ask why so many people are waiting at the offices and he says that it's the last day of a 2:1 promotion by Cubacel. &nbsp;All Cuban cell phones are prepaid and the promotion is for every CUC you spend, you get one. &nbsp;No limit.</div><div><br /></div><div>I get my SIM card and take it next door to be cut to fit in my phone. &nbsp;I plug it in and turn it on. &nbsp;After unlocking, I see full bars and Cubacel in the corner and nearly cry. &nbsp;I speak with a man who has family in Miami and he shows me how to make an international call. &nbsp;No texting. &nbsp;The Cuba systems don't talk to the American ones. &nbsp;The embargo is present everywhere. &nbsp;I call my wife and get her voicemail. &nbsp;I finally break down and cry babbling something incoherent about needing to talk to her and then hang up. &nbsp;I have the cabbie take me back to my hotel trying a few more times to reach her.</div><div><br /></div><div>I try again when I get back to my room. &nbsp;Success! &nbsp;I try to keep it together while I talk to her and fill her in on the previous 40 hours. &nbsp;I am doing much better.</div>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/108721148272824570004noreply@blogger.com0Havana, Cuba23.159167 -82.27105599999998722.691622 -82.916502999999992 23.626712 -81.625608999999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-81603043349270701492015-01-22T21:00:00.000-07:002015-02-06T16:38:07.978-07:00In Cuba and Back in Time<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's late Friday night and I'm about to spend two hours trying to get through Cuban immigration. &nbsp;There are 30 counters all with officials working but there are literally 400 people waiting in various lines. &nbsp;Apparently 7pm is when all the European flights get in as well. &nbsp;I pick one that looks shorter but after waiting 20 minutes and literally not moving, I pick another. &nbsp;And then another. &nbsp;This last one turned out to be the winner, but when each person takes two to five minutes at the counter I did the math and settled in to wait. &nbsp;I chatted with the two men behind me in line who were on my flight from Mexico City. &nbsp;One is an attorney for casinos and the other is in marketing. &nbsp;They are here for a bachelor party, only the bachelor missed his flight. &nbsp;Mexicans come to Havana to party. &nbsp;It is to them, what Cancun is to Americans, but without Americans. &nbsp;The attorney's son was born in Dallas and he speaks about his many ski trips to the U.S., including several weeks he spent in Telluride. &nbsp;We then talk football; the American kind. &nbsp;He's a huge Raiders fan. &nbsp;I apologize.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I finally get to the front of the line and it's my turn to play 20 questions with the officer. &nbsp;Where are you from? &nbsp;What is your flight number? &nbsp;Have you recently been to Africa? &nbsp;I....wait, what? &nbsp;Africa? &nbsp;Have any of your family members recently been to Africa? &nbsp;Cuba takes the Ebola threat quite seriously. &nbsp;Do you have health insurance? &nbsp;Show me. &nbsp;She finishes and unlocks the gate to let me pass. &nbsp;I go though X-ray and then on to baggage claim. &nbsp;Since it's been two hours, our luggage has already been offloaded. &nbsp;I find my suitcase. &nbsp;It's missing the brand new REI luggage tag I just bought. &nbsp;Maybe it got ripped off. &nbsp;Where are the bicycles? &nbsp;I ask some official looking person in Spanish. &nbsp;He rattles something off that I don't understand. &nbsp;I ask him to speak slower. &nbsp;They are in the corner. &nbsp;I find my bike box and it, too, is missing it's luggage tag. &nbsp;They were ripped off all right.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Exiting baggage claim and into the terminal, I'm met by hundreds of people all waiting for someone or something to go through those doors. &nbsp;They all stare at me. &nbsp;After all, I have a massive box on wheels. &nbsp;I push it around the terminal looking for cambio, change, where I can get some CUCs, convertible Cuban pesos. &nbsp;Cuba has two currencies: &nbsp;the CUC which is used by foreigners and tourists, and the Cuban peso which is not. &nbsp;In reality however, it seems like everyone uses the CUC. &nbsp;The CUC is pegged at 1:1 to the American dollar, but there is a 10% penalty for converting dollars to CUCs so I brought Canadian dollars, which have no such penalty. &nbsp;I was told that it wasn't all that long ago that locals would be arrested and thrown in jail if they were caught with American dollars. &nbsp;Wow.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After wandering around for a few minutes, a cabbie walks up to me and asks if I need a taxi. &nbsp;I say, si, pero tango no Pesos. &nbsp;Yes, but I have no Pesos. &nbsp;He shows me to the second floor where I make change. &nbsp;I ask about Cubacel, the national cellular carrier. &nbsp;He says they are closed. &nbsp;There will be no phone calls tonight.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We go outside to his cab and along with only one working headlight, his cab<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;held together by will alone. &nbsp;We barrel along on pitch black streets at speeds your mother told you never to drive, barely missing cyclists who wear no lights or helmets. &nbsp;Everything is old. &nbsp;Everything is run down. &nbsp;Think of it as buying a brand new house and car in the 1950s and then just letting them sit.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i9njhHUyYKw/VMliBainOuI/AAAAAAAADq4/4epeDVjkOTo/s1600/IMG_2771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i9njhHUyYKw/VMliBainOuI/AAAAAAAADq4/4epeDVjkOTo/s1600/IMG_2771.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I get to my hotel and check in. &nbsp;They have no WiFi. &nbsp;It dawns on me that I cannot contact my wife at all and tell her I made it and I'm ok. &nbsp;I get to my room on the 12th floor and my first thought was "Oh. &nbsp;Hell no." &nbsp;All the reviews I'd read online and ignored were right. &nbsp;It was a two star hotel. &nbsp;I changed into some warm weather clothes and took a taxi to the National Hotel which I knew had WiFi because some of the other athletes had posted. &nbsp;Not only were they fully booked, the business center which sells the WiFi cards was closed. &nbsp;I tried to make change at the change counter but was told it was for guests only. &nbsp;I</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;took a cab back to my hotel and nearly lost it and broke down.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Completely disconnected. &nbsp;Alone. &nbsp;Exhausted. &nbsp;A stranger in a strange land.</span></div>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/108721148272824570004noreply@blogger.com0Havana, Cuba23.159167 -82.27105599999998722.691622 -82.916502999999992 23.626712 -81.625608999999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-20786780551614992542015-01-22T04:48:00.001-07:002015-01-22T04:48:26.679-07:00Cuba BoundIt's just after 4am and I'm sitting at my gate at DIA for a 5:30 departure. &nbsp;The dichotomy of where I am and where I'm going is pronounced: It snowed 4 inches last night and is currently 14 degrees outside. &nbsp;Daily temps in Havana for this time of year are in the mid 80s - though it does cool off to the mid 60s at night.<div><br></div><div>I peruse Facebook posts from the athletes who left yesterday and briefly chat with another who leaves today. &nbsp;It seems everyone is getting in earlier than myself as I don't land until 7pm. &nbsp;A thought enters my head that I haven't seen any posts from anyone since they left and wonder as to the Internet situation there. &nbsp;I'm not even sure yet if my hotel has wifi.</div><div><br></div><div>While this trip is about making history and helping the future of the sport of triathlon in Cuba, I can't help feeling like I'm going back in time. &nbsp;The embargo went into effect nearly 15 years before I was even born and the recent pictures I can find online show a country that in 2015, still looks like something out of the 50's with the classic cars.</div><div><br></div><div>The reality of what I am embarking on finally starts to set in and I am both very nervous and excited. &nbsp;Few people can say they've truly represented the United States in anything, but the small size of this group (25) and the destination makes this feel even more important than the Olympics - except that no one is watching.</div>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/108721148272824570004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-14427335284040543912014-07-14T22:59:00.002-06:002014-07-22T08:32:27.357-06:00Boulder Peak Triathlon Race ReportAbout 12 days ago my body said enough and I hit a wall training-wise. &nbsp;Fatigue, lack of power, and general disinterest took its toll and without taking too drastic measures my coach scaled back my training and by the end of last week I was tired, but felt recovered to have a good race. &nbsp;I wasn't.<br /><br />I was chatting with a pro triathlete at Master's swimming last Wednesday and he remarked that he didn't know how we age groupers did it. &nbsp;Working full-time with kids and training 10 hours a week. &nbsp;That was good to hear.<br /><br />My pre-race went by-the-book and my swim warmup was good and I felt good. &nbsp;I realized that I'd forgotten to take my GU chomps but got them in first thing on the bike. &nbsp;I lined up at the front of the swim next to Steve Johnson and Eric Kenney, two VERY fast guys. &nbsp;Eric asked me if I was going out hard. &nbsp;I said yes. &nbsp;He asked "20 minutes?" &nbsp;"Probably 23," I said, "I'm finding Steve's feet and hanging on." &nbsp;Eric followed with he needed 10 minutes to stay with Steve. &nbsp;I said I needed 20. &nbsp;Eric beat me out of the water by a little over a minute and I over Steve by around the same amount. &nbsp;Of course, both then proceeded to crush me on the bike and run.<br /><br />T1 was fast. &nbsp;This was the first race where I left my bike shoes clipped in and while it was weird getting my feet in my shoes and closing the velcro, everything was fine. &nbsp;Even with the shoes being a little lose and my feet having sand still on them, after a few minutes I didn't even notice. &nbsp;Climbing out of the res on 51st and then on Jay was fine, but I should have realized something was up during the long, false flat up to the 36/Broadway merge. &nbsp;My power was only slightly low, but I couldn't generate it in my aero bars - which was not normal. &nbsp;By the time I hit the flats on 36 before and after Neva I was riding in my aero bars, but my power was off. &nbsp;By the end of the bike, my average power was in the low 190s and it should have been between 210 and 220. &nbsp;As a result, my projected bike time was way off. &nbsp;I easily lost 5 minutes.<br /><br />T2 was fast. &nbsp;I remembered to roll my socks beforehand so I could just unroll them onto my feet (next season, I'm going to start training again without socks. &nbsp;It's free speed and they're completely unnecessary). &nbsp;Heading out onto the run, I realized I forgot my Garmin on my bike and had to race by feel. &nbsp;I held back going out and felt ok until around mile 1 when I noticed the fatigue started setting in. &nbsp;I didn't have to gut through anything just yet, I just kept running. &nbsp;No stopping at the aid stations, but grabbing water to hydrate and douse to cool off. &nbsp;By the time I hit mile 4, I was wiped and was struggling to just stay running. &nbsp;At one point I had to stop and walk for a minute but forced myself to start jogging again. &nbsp;At some point past mile 3 after the turnaround, my teammate Jeremy passed me still on his way out. &nbsp;My first thought was that he was going to catch me and my second was that I really didn't care. &nbsp;He caught me between miles 5 and 6 and later said that I wasn't looking great by then. &nbsp;I'm sure. &nbsp;I was able to pick it up a little the last half to 3/4 of a mile, but it was all I could do to get to the finish. &nbsp;One positive was that while the run was hot, it didn't really bother me much. &nbsp;I need to be better about dumping water on my front and and not just the top of my head and down my back.<br /><br />Thanks to my coach&nbsp;<a href="http://billythekidtriathlete.com/" target="_blank">Billy Edwards</a>, my team&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foxtrotwheel.com/" target="_blank">Foxtrot Wheel &amp; Edge</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://foxtrotracingteam.com/" target="_blank">my teammates</a>, my sponsor&nbsp;<a href="https://guenergy.com/" target="_blank">GU Energy</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://coloradomultisport.com/" target="_blank">Colorado Multisport</a>, and my wife&nbsp;for the support.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Race Results:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">165th overall (149th out of 557 men, 948 total athletes, including relays)</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">32nd out of 98 in age group</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Swim (1500m): &nbsp;21:59 (3rd fastest in AG, and 21st fastest overall)</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">T1: 1:37</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Bike (26 mi): 1:13:23 (37th in AG)</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">T2: 1:09</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Run (10km): &nbsp;53:16</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Total: &nbsp;2:31:25</span></span>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-8553102210245711302014-07-01T09:44:00.002-06:002014-07-01T09:44:59.113-06:00Loveland Lake-to-Lake Triathlon Race Report<span style="font-family: inherit;">Two things were clear after the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gordonizer.com/2014/06/2014-boulder-sprint-triathlon-race.html" target="_blank">Boulder Sprint Triathlon</a>: &nbsp;first, my running needed work, and second, so did my taper. &nbsp;To be clear, the latter was more a result of a week of poor sleep leading up to the race than training too much. &nbsp;To mitigate the first, I had&nbsp;<a href="http://billythekidtriathlete.com/" target="_blank">my coach, Billy</a>&nbsp;start giving me structured running workouts. &nbsp;Read more about that <a href="http://www.gordonizer.com/2014/06/structured-running.html" target="_blank">here</a>. &nbsp;In reality, it's too far into the season to expect awesome results from the running but I had to try. &nbsp;My run workouts had been going well (arguably at the expense of my bike).</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We adjusted my taper accordingly and I made damn sure I was in bed as early as is possible every night with two young kids. &nbsp;As a result, I went in feeling fairly fresh.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The race was an hour from my house and a wave start time of 6:30am meant getting up at 3:30. &nbsp;I don't remember what time I got there but I was definitely one of the first few competitors and got a really good rack spot right by the bike-in/out. &nbsp;Set up was uneventful and with the several bathroom breaks I didn't have to worry about what to do with my time. &nbsp;With about 50 minutes until go time, I got the bottom half of my wetsuit on and walked the 1/4-mile to the swim start. &nbsp;(Yes, 1/4-mile. &nbsp;Which meant after coming out of the water, there was going to be a nice run to get to T1.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I got the rest of my wetsuit on and started warming up. &nbsp;I felt awesome and fast. &nbsp;I knew I was going to have a good day. &nbsp;This was also the first time I was going to wear a watch in the race so I could get power data on the bike. &nbsp;But rather than just keep it on the bike, I wore it the whole race. &nbsp;This can be a mixed blessing because it's easy to get in one's head if you're not hitting your numbers.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">In retrospect, I probably should have gone over the course maps because I realized about a minute before the start that I had the wrong swim course plotted. &nbsp;Thankfully the elites were paying attention and I got behind them at the start with about a minute to spare. &nbsp;We got a 10-second countdown (which was nice as usually there's a 30-second warning and then a horn). &nbsp;Right away I found some fast feet and for the first time since I raced Vineman 70.3 in 2008 I had feet the whole way. &nbsp;One take away from the swim is that I need to be a lot better at sighting when I'm following in case the person I'm following leads me astray. &nbsp;I had this thought at some point during the swim and tried to be good about looking for the buoys but I wasn't as good as I should have been. &nbsp;The second turn on the swim had us swimming directly into the sun and I couldn't see shit. &nbsp;I just trusted the guy in front of me could and wasn't going to lead me astray. &nbsp;He didn't, but it was still really unnerving.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't recall knowing where I was position wise until I got out on the bike with the two lead elite women and looked at my watch. &nbsp;I knew then that'd I'd really rocked the swim. &nbsp;The bike course is hard and it bites right away with uphill rollers heading west out of T1. &nbsp;With some short downhill recovery, it's basically a climb all the way to Horsetooth Reservoir. &nbsp;Eventually the lead female started pulling away but I passed and dropped the second place female in the first five miles. &nbsp;I'd never been this close to the front of a race before and it was really weird only seeing one or two other riders. &nbsp;At some point I realized that to this point, only three other riders had passed me to this point and I was feeling really good. &nbsp;I crested the first major climb about half way through the bike and ripped down the descent knowing the next climb was a lot shorter before the long, screaming descent into Ft. Collins. &nbsp;About 200m from the top, I felt my back tire get a little squishy and realized that the worst thing that could have happened (short of an accident) had happened and I got a flat. &nbsp;I had put tire sealant in the tubular but my guess is that it didn't kick in until too much air had escaped rendering it essentially useless. &nbsp;I probably should have tried to refill it to see if it would hold air but wasn't thinking straight and all I could think about was getting the tire off and switching it out. &nbsp;Instead of using glue, I used Tufo tape to adhere the tire to the rim. &nbsp;And it's tacky. &nbsp;REALLY tacky. &nbsp;I couldn't get the tire off even though I'd left a several inch gap with no tape opposite the valve stem. &nbsp;It felt like it took forever to change but in reality it was like 6 minutes. &nbsp;But during that time, all the riders I'd been ahead of were passing me. &nbsp;I was pissed and any semblance of a race plan went out the window (as indicated by my wattage from that point on as it was all over the map) and I stupidly tried to make up for lost time. &nbsp;I even yelled at a guy to stop drafting (he wasn't). &nbsp;The last stretch from Ft. Collins back to Loveland is on S. Taft a very straight stretch of road but it's very exposed and has massive rollers (which doesn't help with trying to maintain a consistent wattage).</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The rest of the bike was fine but I was a mental wreck. &nbsp;I flew into and out of T2 and ran the first mile faster than I should have and finally my body was like "enough" and I struggled through the rest of the run even having to resort to walking a few aid stations on the way back - something I NEVER do. &nbsp;I was just holding on when I crossed the finish line.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">My biggest takeaways were that my taper and recovery were spot on and I need to be able to deal with shit that happens during a race. &nbsp;Pro triathlete Ben Hoffman raced Ironman Coeur d'Alene on Sunday and flatted twice on the bike. &nbsp;He could have said "fuck it" and quit or coasted the rest of the way. &nbsp;But, despite losing 15 minutes on the bike, he ripped off a 2:43 marathon and ran his way to 3rd. &nbsp;That's how you deal with mental issues. &nbsp;I got lucky, as I only lost one place due to the flat and the bike course was really hard - which is a great equalizer. &nbsp;Also, I wonder if my run would have been better.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>Thanks to my coach&nbsp;<a href="http://billythekidtriathlete.com/" target="_blank">Billy Edwards</a>, my team&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foxtrotwheel.com/" target="_blank">Foxtrot Wheel &amp; Edge</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://foxtrotracingteam.com/" target="_blank">my teammates</a>, my sponsor&nbsp;<a href="https://guenergy.com/" target="_blank">GU Energy</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://coloradomultisport.com/" target="_blank">Colorado Multisport</a>, and my wife&nbsp;for the support.<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Race Results:</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">79th overall, 58th male (185 men total, 338 total athletes)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">7th out of 28 in age group w/ flat (6th w/o)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Swim (1500m): &nbsp;23:57, 2nd fastest in AG and 14th fastest overall</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">T1: 1:06</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Bike (30 mi): 1:35:49 w/ flat (1:29:06 w/o, 7th fastest in AG)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">T2: 1:08</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Run (10km): &nbsp;53:38, 18th in AG</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Total: &nbsp;2:55:40 w/flat (2:48:57 w/o)</span></span>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-16450972188097463432014-06-30T22:17:00.000-06:002014-06-30T22:17:21.436-06:00Structured RunningAfter mediocre runs at the <a href="http://www.gordonizer.com/2014/05/2014-summer-open-triathlon-race-report.html" target="_blank">Summer Open</a> and the <a href="http://www.gordonizer.com/2014/06/2014-boulder-sprint-triathlon-race.html" target="_blank">Boulder Sprint Triathlon</a>, I had&nbsp;<a href="http://billythekidtriathlete.com/" target="_blank">my coach, Billy</a>&nbsp;start giving me structured running workouts along with the cycling he was already doing. &nbsp;Apparently all the lovely base mile running I'd been doing was great for base, not so great for endurance at speed.<br /><br />Unfortunately, at this point in the season, it was basically too late to expect my body to be able to respond to the training during a race. &nbsp;(Well, I could expect it, it just wasn't going to happen). &nbsp;As my coach said, he's not a miracle worker. &nbsp;There were 3.5 weeks between the Boulder Sprint and Loveland and I did the best I could.<br /><br />He basically added the equivalent of a long, sub-LT run early in the week, a tempo run (or tempo intervals) in the middle of the week, and a track/interval workout at the end of the week. &nbsp;I say the equivalent of a long run because with the two knee surgeries, I wanted to be careful of my weekly mileage.<br /><br />The first week was fantastic in all areas of my training. &nbsp;My runs and rides were awesome and I was putting up good numbers on the run. &nbsp;Then week two happened. &nbsp;My runs were still great, but my riding fell off a cliff. &nbsp;I had trouble getting any type of power and couldn't hit my numbers. &nbsp;And I wasn't even close. &nbsp;Turns out, as Billy put it, I took a full bite of the workouts and we didn't adjust anything to compensate. &nbsp;As a result my <a href="http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/what-is-the-performance-management-chart" target="_blank">Acute Training Load (ATL)</a>&nbsp;shot way up and instead of being in the mid 80s, they were in the high 90s and low 100s. &nbsp;As with the other metrics in the performance management chart, the ATL is based on the <a href="http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/what-is-tss" target="_blank">Training Stress Score (TSS)</a>, a number assigned to each workout. &nbsp;The more intense a workout, the higher the TSS. &nbsp;A high TSS can also be achieved by doing a less intense workout for a lot longer. &nbsp;For baseline purposes, a TSS of 100 is performing at 100% effort for an hour.<br /><br />What was happening was that the more intense workouts were generating a higher daily TSS and thus, a higher ATL. &nbsp;My inability to hit my wattage numbers on the bike was simply my body saying that it wasn't able to produce the efforts dictated by my workouts - and thus, we should have adjust the workouts to compensate. &nbsp;But we didn't.<br /><br />Thankfully, and hopefully this trend continues, within the last week, it appears my body is beginning to adapt. &nbsp;That said, it's far too late in my season to expect anything more than average results. &nbsp;Next season, however, my expectations will be quite a bit higher as I will start the structured training program much earlier on.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-48015652174591083932014-06-27T12:40:00.004-06:002014-06-30T22:18:43.913-06:00Garmin Edge 510 ReviewFirst a caveat: &nbsp;I'm a triathlete. &nbsp;My review is solely from the point-of-view of a triathlete who's used the <a href="https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/running/forerunner-910xt/prod90671.html" target="_blank">Garmin 910XT</a>&nbsp;exclusively for nearly two years. &nbsp;It may be that none of the cool features or issues I've experienced apply to you. &nbsp;My motivation for getting the <a href="https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/cycling/edge-510/prod112885.html" target="_blank">Garmin Edge 510</a>&nbsp;was the larger screen and thus, the ability to view more data points at one glance rather than having to scroll like I have to do with my 910. &nbsp;Many of the other selling points (color screen, Bluetooth, touchscreen, live tracking, real time weather, etc...) don't really do it for me. &nbsp;Sure, the live tracking is cool, but unless I'm racing, I don't need the entire Internet knowing, within 10ft, where I am on the planet. &nbsp;Part of the draw of training is completely disconnecting from the world, not becoming MORE connected.<br /><br />Setting up the device was a mixed bag: &nbsp;the large screen is great, but the touchscreen is kludgy and doesn't always recognize intentional finger presses. &nbsp;As someone who does full stack Java development and UI development, the UI is pretty bad. &nbsp;It's not polished and it looks terrible. &nbsp;It's functional, but it's SO basic it feels like it was designed by a kid in elementary school. &nbsp;That said, it's mostly obvious what each item does when selecting and adding all my bikes was pretty painless. &nbsp;With the exception of heart rate, pairing all your ANT+ transmitters (speed/cadence, power, etc...) is done at once and on a per bike basis. &nbsp;If you aren't using Bluetooth, just a tip to disable it as it'll only help in draining your battery and I've had many friends who've left it on in transition in races and it's gotten confused with all the other electronics present that it doesn't record anything (or if it does, it did so sporadically). &nbsp;I believe, however, Bluetooth is required for the live-tracking feature and for wirelessly downloading your data to Garmin Connect.<br /><br />Setting up the data fields in my screens was a snap and like my 910, there's gobs of data points for those statistically inclined. &nbsp;I use seven fields on my ride (in no particular order): &nbsp;lap time, lap power, 3s power, lap speed, lap distance, lap cadence, and lap heart rate. &nbsp;The data is displayed in five rows and as more fields are added the number of rows increases until five are displayed. &nbsp;When less than five rows are displayed, the rows (and thus the data text) become larger. &nbsp;This is a nice feature for those folks who might be visually impaired. &nbsp;To switch screens during a ride, simply tap the screen and select either the left or right arrow that displays at the bottom of the screen. &nbsp;I'm used to buttons for everything so the fact that the navigation buttons are rendered is a bit odd. &nbsp;There's plenty of room on the device for more buttons but it's like Garmin was going for a minimalistic design. &nbsp;The lap and start/stop buttons, however, are actual buttons.<br /><br />Prior to riding a quick spin of one's pedals is enough to wake up your ANT+ devices and the Garmin will tell you what it's found. &nbsp;One really annoying thing is that it will not prompt you to calibrate your power meter. &nbsp;You should ALWAYS do this before a ride to ensure consistent and accurate readings and the 910 does prompt you, but for whatever reason, they didn't make the 510 do this. &nbsp;Instead, the calibrate feature is buried under your current bike profile and is accessible by tapping on the dumbbell icon. &nbsp;This icon is only present and clickable if a power meter is currently paired and connected. &nbsp;I found that calibrating a PowerTap hub is significantly faster (at most a couple of seconds) than doing the same for my Stages power meter which has taken up to 15 seconds. &nbsp;If you start moving and neglect to press start, the 510 will helpfully tell you that motion has been detected and tell you how to start your data gathering.<br /><br />I have the 510 mounted on my stem which I'm sure is what Garmin has intended. &nbsp;Unfortunately, I ride a tri bike and instead of my head being higher up and a lot further back like on a road bike, it's low and forward. &nbsp;This makes reading the screen a little more challenging and if you have a positively angled stem, you might find reading it impossible. &nbsp;Mounting on your aero bars is a possibility, but the unit is so big it not only looks ridiculous, your forearm will touch it when riding aero and I don't know about you, but I don't like any distractions when working out or racing and this is a huge distraction. &nbsp;The other major issue with the stem mounting location on a tri bike is that it's so strategically placed that when riding in the aero position, sweat droplets come off my head and fall directly on the large screen of the 510. &nbsp;Thanks to surface tension and friction, the droplets just sit there making it hard to read. &nbsp;Wiping them off is actually worse because not only does it smear and dry with opaque, white, salt streaks, now the touchscreen has, for some reason, become super sensitive and all that touching makes the 510 more than obliged to pop up menus and options over the top of your data fields. &nbsp;I've ordered a <a href="http://www.zagg.com/invisibleshield/garmin-edge-510-cases-screen-protectors-covers-skins-shields" target="_blank">510-specific Zagg screen protector</a> for it and will try putting some RainX on the Zagg to see if that helps act as a sweat repellant. &nbsp;I've also ordered a <a href="https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/shop-by-accessories/cases-and-covers/edge-510-silicone-case-black-/prod114883.html" target="_blank">silicone case</a> for the 510 just in case I drop it. &nbsp;The screen is large and all it has to do is fall face down on uneven ground to get a nice scratch or crack. &nbsp;And you just know Murphy's Law dictates that it WILL land screen side down if you do drop it.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XlNJxha0YII/U626csGdn7I/AAAAAAAADQA/PQNKw5VWzuE/s1600/IMG_2195.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XlNJxha0YII/U626csGdn7I/AAAAAAAADQA/PQNKw5VWzuE/s1600/IMG_2195.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't do this, it goes on your bike</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />After your ride, hitting stop won't automatically save your workout. &nbsp;You are prompted to either discard or save it. &nbsp;This is another change from the 910 and I think is completely unnecessary. &nbsp;Just save the data, and let the user delete it after they sync. &nbsp;I've not tried the wireless synching because it requires Bluetooth and a smartphone app. &nbsp;It does work with Garmin Express, but you have to use the USB cable because the device cannot, apparently, transmit via ANT+ to Garmin Express. &nbsp;You have to turn the device on before connecting the USB cable or it will think you just want to charge the unit and won't turn on, even if you press the power button. &nbsp;I am very happy to report that it works great with the Training Peaks Device Agent and works just like my 910 - even better actually since the software hasn't yet been updated to reflect the new file storage location for Garmin Express with the 910. &nbsp;I should note that the .FIT files Garmin creates for your 510 workouts remain on your device and ARE NOT transferred to your hard drive when synching. &nbsp;If you want a backup of your data separate from Garmin Connect (or Training Peaks, ...) the 510 mounts like a USB PIN drive and you can see the data in your OS' normal means of browsing an attached drive. &nbsp;In fact, this is from where the Training Peaks Device Agent pulls your workout data.<br /><br />Bottom line, as a whole I'm not thrilled with the device. &nbsp;It's certainly not meant for triathletes and as a whole is just a poor user experience with a kludgy UI and ornery touchscreen. &nbsp;That said, the most important feature for me was the large screen and easy viewing of my data points and if I can solve my sweat droplet problems, it's good enough for me. &nbsp;I will say that I'm quite curious to try it out on my road bike to see if some of the annoyances will either go away or become less.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-11328091514663825722014-06-02T21:23:00.001-06:002014-06-02T21:23:49.233-06:002014 Boulder Sprint Triathlon Race Report<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This was my second race in as many weeks. &nbsp;For as rested and mentally/physically ready as I was for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gordonizer.com/2014/05/2014-summer-open-triathlon-race-report.html" target="_blank">2014 Summer Open Triathlon</a>, I wasn't for this race. &nbsp;I was tired the entire week and instead of altering the taper I did for the Summer Open, I stayed with what had worked previously and it didn't.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I slept well the week leading up to the Summer Open, including race night, but not this past week and slept like crap Saturday night. &nbsp;But I shook it all off when I woke up and went through my normal pre race routine.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I got to the Boulder Reservoir early enough to get a decent parking spot for both my car and my bike. &nbsp;Setup was quick and I headed back to my car to relax. &nbsp;I didn't want to do a run warmup because for the Summer Open it made it harder to get on my wetsuit. &nbsp;I don't know what the water temperature was but it was far, far warmer than the Summer Open's 54º. &nbsp;My warmup felt good and I relaxed in the water until it was time to line up.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At the swim start, I somehow found myself next to the winner of the Summer Open and some of his buddies. &nbsp;After the start of the race, I knew in the first 100 meters it wasn't going to be a good day. &nbsp;I felt like I had no power and was working way too hard. &nbsp;Thankfully, I found some fast feet in the next hundred meters or I'm not sure I'd have finished the swim. &nbsp;I followed the feet until the swim finish and realized it was the the same guy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Coming out of the water and doing that run up the beach into T1, it's impossible to keep your HR down and I'm sure it was higher than it should have been. &nbsp;While my transition was pretty smooth, it turned out to be a lot longer than it should have been. &nbsp;Transition time is the easiest place to make up time, don't fuck it up. &nbsp;I don't know specifically what I did, but I fucked it up.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'd ridden part of the course Saturday morning to remember what it was like to ride the first five miles uphill. &nbsp;To my dismay, the shoulder was in bad shape from the torrential rains we'd had the days before. &nbsp;Thankfully, 51st St. was coned off such that we were effectively riding in the middle of the road so the gravel wasn't an issue.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As mine was the third wave, I started passing people immediately and continued to do so until Neva Rd. &nbsp;The cluster of riders was so bad, they were riding two abreast. &nbsp;To make things even more interesting, a USAT referee came up behind me on a motor bike and decided to ride just in front of me. &nbsp;I don't know if he/she was dishing out penalties or what, but I kept having to leapfrog the motor bike until the turn onto Neva when they finally went ahead far enough I didn't feel like I was drafting. &nbsp;I played leap frog with another guy from my age group and probably could have received a penalty for not watching my spacing but this guy would pass me and then slow down - which was kind of annoying.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We did this for the entire bike and he entered T2 a few hundred meters in front of me (but I wound up passing him on the run, at least initially). &nbsp;T2 was a lot smoother and faster than T1 and I was out in just under a minute. &nbsp;By this time it was getting hot and I was beginning to feel the heat. &nbsp;I grabbed water coming out of T1 but the next aid station wasn't for a ways and while I was passing people on the run, &nbsp;I could feel my body not adapting. &nbsp;About a quarter mile after the turn around, people I'd passed on the way out started passing me, including the guy in my age group I was leap frogging on the bike. &nbsp;I saw at least three people in my age group pass me. &nbsp;I don't remember the wheels coming off or slowing down. &nbsp;I just remember willing myself to the finish and knowing I was completely spent after crossing the finish line.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Overall, I PR'd by nearly a minute over my previous race on this course with most of the time coming, ironically, on the swim. &nbsp;The PR aside, it was not a good race, but any race in which lessons can be learned is a race unwasted.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Thanks to my coach&nbsp;<a href="http://billythekidtriathlete.com/" target="_blank">Billy Edwards</a>, my team&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foxtrotwheel.com/" target="_blank">Foxtrot Wheel &amp; Edge</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://foxtrotracingteam.com/" target="_blank">my teammates</a>, my sponsor&nbsp;<a href="https://guenergy.com/" target="_blank">GU Energy</a>, <a href="http://coloradomultisport.com/" target="_blank">Colorado Multisport</a>, and my wife&nbsp;for the support.<br /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Race Results:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">47th overall, 44th male (296 men total, 474 total athletes)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">12th out of 46 in age group</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Swim (750m): &nbsp;11:29, 26th fastest time</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">T1: 1:51</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Bike (17.2 mi): 44:35, 32nd fastest time</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">T2: 0:59</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Run (5km): &nbsp;23:41, 132nd fastest time</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Total: &nbsp;1:22:35</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br />Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/108721148272824570004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-54773905272054664362014-05-18T23:03:00.000-06:002014-05-19T08:25:09.761-06:002014 Summer Open Triathlon Race ReportFor starters, this was my first race in three years with the last being the 2011 Summer Open Triathlon (turned Duathlon due to water contamination) soon after which I found out I had torn the medial meniscus in both knees. &nbsp;Two surgeries, some PT rehab, and several false starts later I started training in earnest beginning December 2013.<br /><br />My swim and bike training leading up to the race was pretty stellar. &nbsp;My speed in the pool improved and new coaching from <a href="http://billythekidtriathlete.com/" target="_blank">Billy Edwards</a>&nbsp;gave my bike training structure and guidance. &nbsp;He added the use of power to ensure I was getting the most out of my cycling. &nbsp;To say it made a difference is a gross understatement.<br /><br />My run was a big question mark given the surgeries and the slow but steady volume increases I was making. &nbsp;I had been getting decent volume up to around 3-4 weeks before the race but then dropped off as life got in the way. &nbsp;As has been typical with all my triathlon training over the years, when time crunches and life hit, it's always been my run that suffers first. &nbsp;I'm nervous about putting too much volume on my knees so I've been incorporating elliptical or elliptical-like workouts - but have no idea how to equate them to a run, if that's even possible (whereas with cycling, a ride on the trainer is like 1.5x an equivalent ride on the road).<br /><br />I got to the venue early and got a great racking spot right next to the bike out/bike in - so the distance I would have to run with my bike was minimal. &nbsp;I set up my stuff and went back to the car to relax before warm-up time.<br /><br />For my warm-up, I did a 10-minute run. &nbsp;In retrospect, this was probably unnecessary given that the water temperature was 57-degrees so any warmth gained by running would be quickly negated. &nbsp;Additionally, the sweat created from running in sweatpants and a sweatshirt only made it that much harder to get on my wetsuit. &nbsp;I should have just done a longer swim warm-up.<br /><br />As mentioned, the water was 57-degrees, which if you've never had the pleasure, let me assure you: &nbsp;IT'S.FUCKING.COLD. &nbsp;Like, take-your-breath-away cold - especially when it hits your face. &nbsp;I'd doubled my swim cap and am damn glad I did. &nbsp;A few hundred meters and I'd numbed up enough to where the cold didn't bother me. &nbsp;Boy, let me tell you, those first few minutes were really hard. &nbsp;It took some extra special motivation to not say "screw this" and bail out. &nbsp;But realizing that EVERYONE had to deal with the same conditions (save for the few crazies wearing sleeveless suits) and if they could do it, so could I.<br /><br />Mine was the first wave off and in true triathlon start fashion, the washing machine was in full force. &nbsp;Normally I go really hard to get out in front but I don't know if it was the cold, or if it was because it was my first race, or what, I held back slightly to avoid getting kicked or punched in the face and let some swimmers go in front of me and followed them immediately. &nbsp;I didn't bother trying to find some fast feet, rather my goal was to just get the damn swim over with as quickly as possible. &nbsp;I thought I was a lot slower than it turns out I was. &nbsp;I must have been flying in my new <a href="http://www.blueseventy.com/collections/helix/products/2014-helix-full-suit" target="_blank">Blue Seventy Helix</a> wetsuit because my swim time was 21st fastest overall and I heard someone say as I ran by into T1 that I was only a minute down.<br /><br />I don't know if it was the Helix or the cold water, but it took far longer to get my arms out than it should have. &nbsp;Normally, I want to get to my bike with cap and goggles off and arms out with the wetsuit top pulled down to my waist. &nbsp;I'd only barely managed the latter by the time I got to my rack. &nbsp;The rest of T1 went pretty smoothly. &nbsp;I had gloves out for the ride because I knew I'd be cold coming out of the water and the air temp was still pretty chilly, but my hands were too wet and I couldn't get a glove on, so I gave up on that after only a few seconds.<br /><br />The bike course was straight out and back with only a turn into and out of the reservoir and a U-turn about six miles out. &nbsp;Unfortunately, it was all uphill and into a tail wind except for the last few hundred meters before the turn around. &nbsp;Thankfully, I'd been doing many of my intervals in just such conditions so while I probably overcooked the ride out, I knew I'd be recovering on the way back. &nbsp;My only regret is not putting an 11 on in the back for my small chainring instead of a 12 and as a result, I was spinning out with the tailwind and downhill on the return leg.<br /><br />My dismount was mostly textbook, though I probably slowed too much too soon and took my feet out of my shoes a bit early. &nbsp;My feet were still a little wet so getting my socks on took a little longer than I was expecting. &nbsp;In years past, I'd been used to running without socks, but hadn't done any such training and so didn't want to risk it just for the sake of speed.<br /><br />Heading out on to the run, I could feel the lack of quality run training and to make matters worse, I couldn't feel my feet. &nbsp;I was running on stumps for the first 1.5 miles. &nbsp;The run was on the dirt road next to the reservoir and headed East. &nbsp;It was in really bad shape with 2-4" deep holes everywhere. &nbsp;Finding a smooth, straight track was challenging. &nbsp;A little over a 1/2 mile before the finish, I noticed I was having trouble seeing the road clearly due to my glasses being dirty but instead of taking them off, I just kept running and wound up rolling my ankle within that half-mile and it easily took 20-seconds to get back into a rhythm, but it was not nearly at the same pace as before. &nbsp;As a result, I lost two places in my age group with the second one being literally in the finishing chute. &nbsp;I was so pissed.<br /><br />Overall, it was a damn good race and I should be proud to come back so strong after a three-year hiatus. &nbsp;But, as we athletes are wont to do, we focus on the one or two negatives and that, for me, would be the damn ankle roll that cost me two places. &nbsp;Thankfully, other races are yet to come, the road is in much better shape, and I'll be that much more motivated.<br /><br />Thanks to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foxtrotwheel.com/" target="_blank">Foxtrot Wheel &amp; Edge</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://foxtrotracingteam.com/" target="_blank">my teammates</a>, my sponsor <a href="https://guenergy.com/" target="_blank">GU Energy</a>, and my wife&nbsp;for the support.<br /><br />Race Results:<br /><br />42nd overall, 37th male<br />7th out of 38 in age group, 10 and 2 seconds behind 5th and 6th place respectively.<br />Swim (1/2 mi): &nbsp;8:18, 21st fastest time<br />T1: 1:33<br />Bike (12.25 mi): 35:30, 40th fastest time<br />T2: 1:04<br />Run (3.1 mi): &nbsp;23:15, 111th fastest time<br /><br />Total: &nbsp;1:09:42Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/108721148272824570004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-44169002227484068012013-04-25T23:26:00.000-06:002013-04-26T09:15:43.293-06:00Installing mud flaps on a Land Rover LR4This post is an attempt to convey, in writing and via pictures, how to install the rear mud flaps on a 2010 Land Rover LR4 (while I suspect other years are similar, I do not know for sure).<br /><br />I consider this project to be moderately difficult, but only because there's a tight space in which you need to navigate an anchoring bracket and screw it in place. &nbsp;If you are impatient or have large hands, this project will most likely frustrate you something awful. &nbsp;That said, if you want to save what I've seen on the web as over $300 dealers are charging to install these things, read on...<br /><br />As far as time goes, the first one took a while (I want to say maybe an hour) because there's no instructions online and the paper ones only adequate at best. &nbsp;Like IKEA, they contain only pictures, but unlike IKEA, there's no head-scratching stick figure with a question mark above his head and a toll-free phone number to call. &nbsp;The second only took around 15 minutes.<br /><br />Before starting, check to make sure you have all the parts: &nbsp;you should have two mud flaps and two anchoring brackets (all four labeled L or R), four screws, and four plastic anchoring tab things (mine were blue).<br /><br />If you are able to remove the tires, do so, it will make this a lot easier. &nbsp;If not, raise the air suspension to the highest setting (Off-Road Mode). &nbsp;It's not great, but it does give you a little more room.<br /><br />Lying on your back slide under the rear of your car behind one of your rear wheels. &nbsp;This is from the right side of my vehicle:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a626Exzm5vs/UXoB9pZg3qI/AAAAAAAADCM/GJiBrw6j7ZM/s1600/IMG_0866.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a626Exzm5vs/UXoB9pZg3qI/AAAAAAAADCM/GJiBrw6j7ZM/s1600/IMG_0866.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1: The bottom of the right rear corner panel - note the<br />square,&nbsp;fixed anchor bracket in the middle of the picture.</td></tr></tbody></table>Unscrew that bottom screw and set it aside. &nbsp;In the middle of the picture you can see an anchor bracket that's attached to the rear corner panel - the anchor bracket that is included in the kit will attach here. &nbsp;I believe that aluminum grid thing on the right is a heat shield for the exhaust (oh, and on that note, let the exhaust cool before doing this. &nbsp;Getting a 3rd degree burn while installing mud flaps should not be considered a "battle scar.").<br /><br />Press one of the plastic anchor tab things into the square hole of the fixed anchor bracket shown in Figure 1:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIa8QXYkdcE/UXoDOkuGP3I/AAAAAAAADCY/4_8QNkTL6F8/s1600/IMG_0870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIa8QXYkdcE/UXoDOkuGP3I/AAAAAAAADCY/4_8QNkTL6F8/s1600/IMG_0870.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2: &nbsp;Insert one of the plastic anchor tabs into the<br />fixed ancor bracket attached to the corner panel.</td></tr></tbody></table>Remove the screw shown in this picture (this is in rear part of the wheel well) and set it aside (don't mix it up with the screw you removed above in Figure 1, you can tell them apart because the screw from the bottom is longer):<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vLO9c6IlJ0k/UXoEMJBHLKI/AAAAAAAADCo/3QXj34oLgGk/s1600/IMG_0867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vLO9c6IlJ0k/UXoEMJBHLKI/AAAAAAAADCo/3QXj34oLgGk/s1600/IMG_0867.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 3: &nbsp;The second mounting screw that needs to be removed.</td></tr></tbody></table>This is a zoomed out picture of Figure 3 above - note the little dimple in the middle of the picture:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-svgckhWPZBQ/UXoE2q-xu-I/AAAAAAAADC0/c222w5Fm0AM/s1600/IMG_0869.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-svgckhWPZBQ/UXoE2q-xu-I/AAAAAAAADC0/c222w5Fm0AM/s1600/IMG_0869.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 4: &nbsp;A zoomed out view of the rear portion of the wheel well.</td></tr></tbody></table>This dimple is where one of the two screws that came in the kit will go. &nbsp;Recall that the anchor brackets that came with the kit are labeled L and R for the appropriate side of your car. &nbsp;Note that the bracket has a round hole and a square hole. &nbsp;Following the paper instructions insert one of the plastic anchor tabs into the square hole as indicated and set it aside (I apologize that I never took a picture of this).<br /><br />The instructions say to screw this anchor bracket from the kit into the fixed anchor bracket shown in Figure 1 and then when mounting the mud flap screw the middle anchor screw through the wheel well and into the plastic anchor tab on the kit anchor bracket but I found that doing so made it impossible thread the middle screw into the plastic anchor tab. &nbsp;I suspect if I had taken the wheel off, it might have been significantly easier.<br /><br />I used a pocket knife to poke a hole through the dimple shown above in Figure 4 above and ensured that I could hand thread one of the kit screws through this hole. &nbsp;Then I held up the mud flap in its mounting position and threaded the screw through the hole so that it could hang in place without me holding it (tip: if you thread the screw through so that it actually pokes through it makes attaching to the kit anchor bracket easier):<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DrBe_sdSJmM/UXoImY0kARI/AAAAAAAADDE/7B4YZPQwrYU/s1600/IMG_0871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DrBe_sdSJmM/UXoImY0kARI/AAAAAAAADDE/7B4YZPQwrYU/s1600/IMG_0871.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 5: &nbsp;Loosely thread a kit screw through the mud flap and dimple hole.</td></tr></tbody></table>Now take the lose anchor bracket and thread the plastic anchor tab onto the screw. &nbsp;This part sucks because the heat shield is not forgiving, it has sharp edges, and there's not a lot of room for your hands and fingers to maneuver. &nbsp;There were several ways I attempted to do this. &nbsp;The way that worked was to actually hold the screw in place with my left hand and rotate the kit anchor bracket around the screw so as to at least get it partially threaded such that it would not come apart if the bracket was moved or bumped:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-izdk0GTjJQ8/UXoKBKnNBHI/AAAAAAAADDQ/P3DdSVy08ss/s1600/IMG_0875.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-izdk0GTjJQ8/UXoKBKnNBHI/AAAAAAAADDQ/P3DdSVy08ss/s1600/IMG_0875.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 6: &nbsp;Thread the kit bracket on to the middle<br />anchor screw that goes through the mud flap.</td></tr></tbody></table>Don't tighten the screw all the way. &nbsp;You will need some play to align the round hole in the kit anchor bracket (shown above in Figure 6) with the plastic anchor tab (also shown above in Figure 6). &nbsp;Thread a kit screw through the round hole of the kit anchor bracket and into the plastic anchor tab:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-13LyRo8o1D0/UXoLQHfFe6I/AAAAAAAADDg/NXRNP2HXQMg/s1600/IMG_0876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-13LyRo8o1D0/UXoLQHfFe6I/AAAAAAAADDg/NXRNP2HXQMg/s1600/IMG_0876.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 7: &nbsp;Take a kit screw and attach the kit anchor<br />bracket to the fixed bracket on the corner panel.</td></tr></tbody></table>Go ahead and tighten this screw and then tighten the screw going through the middle mud flap. &nbsp;Tightening the screw that goes through the middle of the mud flap was a major pain in the ass with the tire mounted. &nbsp;Even my shortest Phillips screw driver (probably 3") was still too long to fit in the gap between the tire and the head of the screw. &nbsp;I wound up having to take a Phillips bit meant for a drill, clamp it with a Vise Grips, and use quarter turns and applicable back pressure to keep the bit in the screw to be able to tighten it completely (it would have taken mere seconds with the tire removed):<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kaAAoR2Pbg4/UXoLzhzUIFI/AAAAAAAADDs/3CDFJIMYx5I/s1600/IMG_0884.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kaAAoR2Pbg4/UXoLzhzUIFI/AAAAAAAADDs/3CDFJIMYx5I/s1600/IMG_0884.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 8: &nbsp;Tighten the fixed anchor bracket screw first<br />and then the screw that goes through the mud flap.</td></tr></tbody></table>If you made it this far, congratulations! &nbsp;You're almost finished. &nbsp;The last two screws go in very easily and should only take a minute.<br /><br />Re-attach the top screw (the shorter one) through the mud flap and tighten:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7IcXT1LUT9A/UXoN8TJtjtI/AAAAAAAADD8/H1rBeYwOSRc/s1600/IMG_0880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7IcXT1LUT9A/UXoN8TJtjtI/AAAAAAAADD8/H1rBeYwOSRc/s1600/IMG_0880.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 9: &nbsp;Re-attach the top screw through the mud flap and tighten.</td></tr></tbody></table>Finally, re-attach the bottom screw (the longer one) through the mud flap and ensure you go through the original hole in the bottom of the wheel well lining and into the existing metal tab attached to the rear corner panel:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5r0oIhaykw4/UXoOt_KLclI/AAAAAAAADEI/LZByTy5g9Pc/s1600/IMG_0882.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5r0oIhaykw4/UXoOt_KLclI/AAAAAAAADEI/LZByTy5g9Pc/s1600/IMG_0882.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 10: &nbsp;Re-attach the bottom screw to complete the installation.</td></tr></tbody></table>That's it! &nbsp;Repeat the steps for the other side of the car and you just saved yourself over $300.<br /><br />Please let me know if you discover any errors in my installation and I'll update. &nbsp;Thanks.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-63653354736833229752012-07-05T14:59:00.001-06:002012-09-18T17:49:26.629-06:00Running AgainTwo months out of surgery on my right knee and I'm up to 3/4 mile. Granted, it's at a 12:00 pace, but who cares? I'm running again and it's pain free. <br/></br>After surgery on my right knee last October and before I started running again, I had an MRI done on my left knee to make sure I wouldn't make things worse by ramping up my running again. As it turned out, I had the exact same tear in my medial meniscus in my left knee that I had in my right. It wasn't as bad and the flap that had torn did not fold over on itself - which is why I never had any left knee pain - but there was some VERY minor damage in my lateral meniscus. So, when they went in for surgery they fixed both. <br/></br>I was originally going to wait until this fall to have surgery on my left knee, but there really was no reason to wait any longer and it was keeping me from running so I went ahead and had it done.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-76354352110474642552012-04-26T10:35:00.002-06:002012-08-15T09:47:28.543-06:00Java Generics and Type ErasureI recently came across a situation at work where knowing the generic type on a field was needed and it turns out that my initial understanding of Java Generics was not correct. Java Generics provide compile-time type safety and my understanding was that these types were erased after compilation and were not accessible at run-time. It turns out, this only true at the class level but generics are not erased for fields and methods. <br/><br/>Here's an example, first, let's define a simple class: <br/><pre class="brush:java"><br />import java.util.List;<br /><br />public class GenericsTest {<br /><br /> public GenericsTest() {<br /> this.stringList = null;<br /> this.stringField = null;<br /> }<br /><br /> private List&lt;String&gt; stringList;<br /> private String stringField;<br />}<br /></pre>And now for our test: <br/><pre class="brush:java"><br />import java.lang.reflect.Field;<br />import java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedType;<br />import java.lang.reflect.Type;<br /><br />public class FieldGenericsTest {<br /><br /> public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {<br /><br /> GenericsTest gt = new GenericsTest();<br /><br /> Field[] fields = gt.getClass().getDeclaredFields();<br /> for (Field field : fields) {<br /><br /> // needed to access non-public fields<br /> field.setAccessible(true);<br /><br /> Type fieldType = field.getType(); // will be List without generics<br /> System.out.println("field type: " + fieldType);<br /><br /> Type genericType = field.getGenericType();<br /> if (genericType instanceof ParameterizedType) {<br /><br /> ParameterizedType pt = (ParameterizedType) genericType;<br /> Type[] types = pt.getActualTypeArguments();<br /><br /> // since we only have one generic type in our example, that is,<br /> // List&lt;String&gt; contains only one generic type parameter, the<br /> // size of this array will only be one.<br /> Type type = types[0];<br /> if (type.equals(String.class)) {<br /> System.out.println("generic type is string: " + type);<br /> }<br /> }<br /> else {<br /><br /> // fields without generics will fall here<br /> System.out.println("not a parameterized type: " + genericType);<br /> }<br /> }<br /> }<br />}<br /></pre>This, by itself, is pretty powerful for the use cases where the generic type needs to be known at run-time. But, what if you have multiple fields with the same type/generic signature? That is, we have two fields with the type List&lt;String&gt;. We can use annotations to distinguish these fields apart and then access the annotations while we're iterating over the fields. My next post will deal with that use case.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-26559822961717913642012-01-17T09:34:00.000-07:002012-08-15T09:49:06.867-06:00Referencing third-party library source code in a GWT project.<br />It turns out the process is slightly involved - especially when Maven is added to the mix. &nbsp;I don't know if this is the blessed way of solving this issue, but it works.<br /><br />The first thing I had to do was modify the third-party library POM so that it builds the source jars. This can easily be done by adding the following plugin:<br /><br /><pre class="brush:xml"> &lt;plugin&gt;<br /> &lt;artifactId&gt;maven-source-plugin&lt;/artifactId&gt;<br /> &lt;groupId&gt;org.apache.maven.plugins&lt;/groupId&gt;<br /> &lt;version&gt;2.1.2&lt;/version&gt;<br /> &lt;executions&gt;<br /> &lt;execution&gt;<br /> &lt;id&gt;attach-sources-jar&lt;/id&gt;<br /> &lt;phase&gt;verify&lt;/phase&gt;<br /> &lt;goals&gt;<br /> &lt;goal&gt;jar-no-fork&lt;/goal&gt;<br /> &lt;/goals&gt;<br /> &lt;/execution&gt;<br /> &lt;/executions&gt;<br /> &lt;/plugin&gt;<br /></pre><br />Then, I had to run a build/install of the third-party library to install the sources in my local repo.<br /><br />Next, I needed to modify the gwt-maven-plugin in my project's POM to tell it to compile the sources for my third-party library. For this, I needed the groupId and artifactId of the third-party library. I had already added this as a dependency in my project's POM and was simply able get the information from there. I then had to modify gwt-maven-plugin plugin's configuration element (in the execution element) to add the compileSourcesArtifacts element as follows: <br /><br /><pre class="brush:xml"> &lt;compileSourcesArtifacts&gt;<br /> &lt;compileSourcesArtifact&gt;groupId:artifactId&lt;/compileSourcesArtifact&gt;<br /> &lt;compileSourcesArtifacts&gt;<br /></pre><br />Where the text "groupId:artifactId" are the actual groupId and artifactId of my third-party library - don't forget the colon character! <br /><br />Next, I had to note the package name in the third-party library where the objects I wanted to use were located. For this example, let's assume that this package is "com.foo.bar.bat". <br /><br />I added a package to my GWT project called "com.foo.bar" leaving out the final "sub-package" of "bat." In this package, I created a new gwt.xml (e.g. Foo.gwt.xml) file and used the artifactId as the name capitalizing the first letter (I don't know if this is necessary but it seems convention in GWT). I then populated this file with the following: <br /><br /><pre class="brush:xml">&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;<br />&lt;!DOCTYPE module PUBLIC<br /> "-//Google Inc.//DTD Google Web Toolkit 1.6.4//EN"<br /> "http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/svn/tags/2.4.0/distro-source/core/src/gwt-module.dtd"&gt;<br />&lt;module&gt;<br /> &lt;source path="bat"/&gt;<br />&lt;/module&gt;<br /></pre><br />Note that the value of the "path" attribute is the final "sub-package" I left out above. Additionally, this tells GWT to try and generate JavaScript for ALL the classes in the "bat" package. If there are classes that you want to be ignored, change the &lt;source&gt; element to a block-level element and add a child element called &lt;exclude&gt; that has one attribute called "name" that contains the name of the Java file to ignore, e.g., "Bar.java". <br /><br />Finally, I added a module inherit dependency to my project's gwt.xml file: &lt;inherits name="com.foo.bar.Foo"/&gt;. &nbsp;Note that I used the capitalized name of the artifactId as the module.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-11597091198732093972011-12-13T15:58:00.000-07:002012-08-15T09:50:41.797-06:00Using Spring and MyBatis for non-POJO Data RetrievalThis post will be part one of two dealing with data retrieval in Spring with MyBatis. This post in particular will discuss data retrieval whereby you have a situation where you do not have a DB Schema-to-POJO relationship, e.g. in a properties or settings table. <br /><br />I won't get into how to set up a Spring datasource bean and will assume you already have one in your Spring config file. &nbsp;In your Spring config file, per <a href="http://code.google.com/p/mybatis/wiki/Spring">http://code.google.com/p/mybatis/wiki/Spring</a>, add a new bean to configure your SqlSessionFactory using the datasource you defined above. <br /><br />Next, the mybatis-spring library allows us to wire up things automagically (without declaring our mappers in XML) with the following:<br /><br /><pre class="brush:xml">&lt;!-- scan for mappers and let them be autowired --&gt;<br />&lt;bean class="org.mybatis.spring.mapper.MapperScannerConfigurer"&gt;<br /> &lt;property name="basePackage" value="com.foo.persistence"/&gt;<br />&lt;/bean&gt;<br /></pre><br />This tells the scanner to recursively scan the com.foo.persistence package and create Spring beans for each mapper it finds. If you're using only one datasource, you don't even need to wire that in as the scanner will take care of this for you. <br /><br />Next, you'll need to create a mapper class like so: <br /><br /><pre class="brush:java">package com.foo.persistence;<br /><br />import org.apache.ibatis.annotations.Insert;<br />import org.apache.ibatis.annotations.Param;<br />import org.apache.ibatis.annotations.Select;<br /><br />public interface SettingsMapperInterface {<br /><br /> @Select("SELECT value FROM settings WHERE name = #{name}")<br /> String getValue(@Param("name") String name);<br /><br /> @Insert("INSERT INTO settings VALUES(#{name}, #{value})")<br /> void setValue(@Param("name") String name,<br /> @Param("value") String value);<br />}<br /></pre><br />This defines two methods, one for getting a value from our settings table and one for inserting a value into our settings table. Note that the package name matches what we defined as the "basePackage" for the scanner bean above. Remember that this is recursive so we could have put this in package "com.foo.persistence.settings" and it would still work. In fact, for larger systems, organizing your mappers by package is probably not a bad idea. <br /><br />Next, let's define a Spring service that is responsible for interacting with the database. This is our DAO layer or business layer. We don't want to pollute our controller with business logic and vice versa - i.e., we don't want to put any UI or action logic in our business layer. Here's what the service class looks like: <br /><br /><pre class="brush:java">package com.foo.service;<br /><br />import com.foo.persistence.SettingsMapperInterface;<br />import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;<br />import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;<br />import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional;<br /><br />@Service<br />public class SettingService {<br /><br /> public String getValue(String name) {<br /> return this.settingsMapper.getValue(name);<br /> }<br /><br /> @Transactional<br /> public void setValue(String name, String value) {<br /> this.settingsMapper.setValue(name, value);<br /> }<br /><br /> @Autowired<br /> private SettingsMapperInterface settingsMapper;<br />}<br /></pre><br />Recall how we said above that the scanner automatically creates Spring beans for each of our mappers. Here, you can see we are autowiring this bean into our service class. One note on IDEs, my IntelliJ instance complains about there not being a bean defined with the SettingsMapperInterface type. This is annoying, but it's not a problem. At the time of this writing, I could not find any MyBatis support for IntelliJ. <br /><br />Finally, we can autowire our service up like any other bean as follows: <br /><br /><pre class="brush:java">package com.foo.controller;<br /><br />import com.foo.service.SettingService;<br />import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;<br />import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;<br />import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;<br />import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;<br /><br />import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;<br />import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;<br /><br />@Controller<br />public class SettingController {<br /><br /> @RequestMapping(value = "/foo/getSetting",<br /> method = RequestMethod.GET)<br /> public void getSetting(HttpServletRequest request,<br /> HttpServletResponse response) {<br /><br /> String settingName = request.getParameter("settingName");<br /> String settingValue = this.settingService.getValue(settingName);<br /><br /> // do something with "settingValue"<br /> }<br /><br /> @Autowired<br /> private SettingService settingService;<br />}<br /></pre><br />Here, we pull the name of the setting we want to retrieve off of the request as a parameter (called "settingName") and pass it to the service method for retrieving a setting's value from the database. We can then take this value and do anything we want with it.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-66648764705876190952011-12-05T13:29:00.001-07:002012-08-15T09:51:20.086-06:00Reading Spring Controller and RequestMapping DefinitionsMy current, major task at work is to bring two existing web applications into one utilizing a single-signon mechanism and overhaul the UI based on my recommendations previously made. &nbsp;Part of the background architecture work involved in allowing the creation of a menu structure that would ultimately be utilized to create a similar structure in the UI.<br /><br />I wanted to use JAXB to unmarshall my menu XML into Java objects but I suspect the complex nature of the XML schema and some limitations of the JAXB framework combined with my lack of a complete understanding of JAXB hindered this process to such a degree that I had to stop due to the time I was spending on it. &nbsp;So, instead of getting the created objects "for free" I had to resort to writing my own SAX Parser event handler to build up the menu structure in Java land. &nbsp;I had tried a DOM-based approach first, but the recursive nature of the elements made me cringe a bit while writing the code and if you ever have the thought of "there's got to be an easier way to do this" while writing code, your best bet is to just flat out stop what you are doing and take some time to thoroughly think things through before spending any more time on the task.<br /><br />The event handler also built up the menu item URI paths using attributes on the hierarchical menu structure in the menu XML. &nbsp;This gave the menu item actions (arbitrary) name-spacing. &nbsp;I say arbitrary because when using Spring MVC with only one DispatcherServlet, the URI paths are essentially meaningless.<br /><br />One other thing I wanted to ensure was that we would never have a dangling menu item - that is a menu item defined (and in the UI) but not actually tied back to a Spring Controller method. &nbsp;So, I created a unit test that loads my menu XML, pulls a list of all the RequestMapping annotated methods, and confirms that every menu item ties back to a server-side method.<br /><br />Here's the code:<br /><br /><pre class="brush:java"><br /> Map&lt;String, Object&gt; controllers =<br /> this.ctx.getBeansWithAnnotation(Controller.class);<br /> for(Map.Entry&lt;String, Object&gt; entry : controllers.entrySet()) {<br /><br /> Class controllerClass = entry.getValue().getClass();<br /> for(Method method : controllerClass.getDeclaredMethods()) {<br /><br /> RequestMapping rm =<br /> method.getAnnotation(RequestMapping.class);<br /> if(rm == null) {<br /> continue;<br /> }<br /> else {<br /><br /> String[] vals = rm.value();<br /> if (vals.length == 1) {<br /> this.mappingSet.add(vals[0]);<br /> }<br /> else {<br /> String msg =<br /> "this test assumes only one request mapping per method. " +<br /> "check class: " + controllerClass + " and method: " + method;<br /> Assert.fail(msg);<br /> }<br /> }<br /> }<br /> }<br /></pre><br />Two notes:<br /><br /><ol><li>The reference "this.ctx" refers to a Spring ApplicationContext, in my case here an instance of the XmlWebApplicationContext class that loads my Spring configuration.</li><li>The reference "this.mappingSet" is simply a class-local field (HashSet&lt;String&gt;) in which I simply store the RequestMapping values.</li></ol><div>Finally, after this is complete I confirm that every menu item action URI is contained in the set of extracted RequestMapping values.</div>Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-25440398726879343912011-12-02T11:30:00.001-07:002011-12-02T11:38:38.612-07:00Five Weeks Post-OpToday I'm five weeks out from knee surgery and it's doing awesome. &nbsp;I started swimming again and after a hectic November travel schedule with a fifth anniversary vacation to Jamaica followed five days later by a trip to the in-laws for Thanksgiving I hope to establish more of a training routine because quite frankly I've lost my fitness and put on a little extra weight. &nbsp;I'm not so much worried about the weight because it was gained from doing nothing for the first three weeks after the surgery and I gained nothing over Thanksgiving (a rare feat). &nbsp;But I am disappointed about the loss of fitness because it's so damn hard to get back at first, i.e., the first week or two suck.<br /><br />I remember when I took four months off after IM CDA in 2009 to let my foot fully heal that the first week or two I struggled to even run a mile. &nbsp;Now that all the travelling is out of my schedule for the foreseeable future, I can start a training schedule again: &nbsp;Master's swimming 2x a week and some trainer time. &nbsp;I've been allowed to ride the trainer, but haven't gotten around to even setting it up yet. &nbsp;This weekend for sure....along with all the other crap I have on my list.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-10840059264964521592011-09-20T09:38:00.000-06:002011-09-20T09:38:44.901-06:00Busy Summer: Injury and FatherhoodThere won't be a part II. &nbsp;It's been too long and I really don't want to relive that day again. &nbsp;Psychologists would say the more you talk about a thing, the less that thing holds power over you. &nbsp;Yea, I can live with that for now.<br /><br />My first race of the season was also my last race. &nbsp;About a week prior to my first race, the Summer Open Triathlon in mid-May, I started having right knee issues. &nbsp;I figured I could fix it on my own but it just never got better. &nbsp;I saw Matt at Altitude for a ton of sessions and got to the point where I was able to run again pain free but it didn't last. &nbsp;I've now not run since early August and now the pain manifests itself randomly after bike rides.<br /><br />I've officially hung up the tri and road bikes opting for some quality mountain biking. &nbsp;It was clear from the first few rides that being fearless on a road bike is easy but being fearless on a mountain bike requires cojones I don't know that I will ever possess. &nbsp;That said, my bike handling skills are improving and I have been able to navigate some rough terrain with increasing ease. &nbsp;I suspect this will change when I have my first wipeout, but so far, my clothes have remained clean.<br /><br />This past Saturday I did an epic, 2.5 hour trail ride covering some 30 miles. &nbsp;I don't have the climbing data, but I'm sure it was in the multiple thousands of feet. &nbsp;That afternoon, I could barely walk because of my knee. &nbsp;Sunday was a bit rough as well and I would have to randomly do some stretches to get it to stop hurting.<br /><br />Recalling something Uli mentioned at Master's swim about how, possibly, bike position might&nbsp;aggravate the injury I made an appointment to see Mark Plaatjes to get a different take on the injury and fixing it.<br /><br />Fatherhood has been fantastic. &nbsp;It's really cool to see the development of a child - to see when they first start learning even the most basic of things, like smiling. &nbsp;It's also a lot of work because they require nearly constant attention when awake which can be very mentally draining. &nbsp;Elin is sitting up now and rolls around quite a bit. &nbsp;She's starting to figure out how to pull her knees up under her and I suspect she will be crawling within a few months.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-13724212490611660602011-02-13T21:15:00.000-07:002011-09-20T09:39:05.672-06:00Husband, anchor...daddy - Part IAt 12:54 PM on February 10th, 2011, Elin Hannah Gordon was born. &nbsp;Until about 5 minutes before this time the pregnancy and labor was normal if not routine (I will not go so far as to say that labor is easy - given the amount of pain my wife was in during some of her contractions). &nbsp;The next 3.5 days were anything but.<br /><br />At around 11:30 AM, my wife was fully dilated and ready to push. &nbsp;She pushed for around an hour with the baby not moving. &nbsp;The baby was face out and LOC, essentially at ~10 o'clock facing my wife. &nbsp;The ideal position is face in toward the spine, however no amount of rotating got her to rotate correctly. &nbsp;at 12:30, we were told that the baby had not come down any and that it didn't really make a whole lot of sense to push for another several hours only to have to have a&nbsp;Caesarean&nbsp;anyway so we made the decision to go ahead and have one. &nbsp;I went ahead and texted various family members thus. &nbsp;What I can only imagine as hell for them, the next time I spoke to most of them was over 3 hours later with my phone going crazy during that time.<br /><br />Around 12:48 or so the&nbsp;anesthesiologist&nbsp;came in and administered a Caesarean dose into my wife's epidural and an antibiotic for the operation to prevent infection. &nbsp;Not long after that my wife complained of having trouble breathing and our OB said that this was perfectly normal. &nbsp;The epidural medicine numbs everything downward from the insertion point which includes the diaphragm - the muscles that control breathing. &nbsp;During the approximately 40 seconds it took to walk from our labor and delivery room (my wife on the labor and delivery bed) to the OR my wife continuously complained of it being very difficult to breathe to which our nurse replied that this was completely normal. &nbsp;By the time we got to the doors of the OR, my wife was in a bit of a panic and this was the last thing she remembered until 2 AM on Friday.<br /><br />What happened next is something I can only hope no one ever has to experience. &nbsp;Ever.<br /><br />They wheeled my wife's bed into the OR and I sat on a stool by the doors watching as my wife passed out and stopped breathing - her lips turning blue. &nbsp;The people in the OR were busy prepping the table to transfer my wife over and didn't notice for several seconds. &nbsp;Then they noticed and all hell broke lose. &nbsp;Those next 60 seconds were quite a blur as several ran to the wall and there was some confusion for several seconds as to the alarm to pull and what to say. &nbsp;Seconds later, the lever pulled an announcement was made (and I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact words) "Code yellow, labor and delivery OR. &nbsp;Code yellow, labor and deliver OR." &nbsp;Within seconds there were probably 40 people in the OR. &nbsp;I remember them talking, but not about what. &nbsp;I was just sitting there watching. &nbsp;Finally, I was kicked out by one of the anesthesiologists to go next door to what was the recovery room for women who have "routine" Caesareans performed - my wife never made it into that room and instead went straight to the ICU.<br /><br />I was in that room for maybe a minute or two before someone came in and said "Congratulations, time of birth 12:54." &nbsp;They then asked if I wanted to go in and [re]cut the umbilical cord (as the baby station is about 15 feet away from the operating table, the OB cuts the cord leaving enough for dad to cut it again). &nbsp;Seeing the clock on the baby station, I realized (and this was confirmed later by my OB) that the baby was removed within seconds of my leaving. &nbsp;Typical Caesarians take around five minutes to get the baby out. &nbsp;My wife's was done in under one. &nbsp;After cutting my daughter's cord and inquiring about her 2nd Apgar score I carried her next door to watch her get her vitamin K shot, the eye gook they put in to prevent infection, and some blood draw on her heel (I think for sugar?).<br /><br />After that they took the baby away to do more things and I must have had ten different doctors and staff members come in to talk to me. &nbsp;I don't remember anything they said. &nbsp;At some point I left to go up to the &nbsp;well-baby nursery (which is part of the NICU, but for healthy babies) to feed Elin for the first time. &nbsp;I fed and burped her and then was taken back downstairs to wait for my wife to be rolled out of the OR. &nbsp;We followed her and her entourage of doctors to the elevator where six or eight of them got on the elevator with them and myself and 4 others took the stairs one floor down. &nbsp;We met them at the elevator and walked to the ICU where I was promptly not allowed in. &nbsp;I suspect it was around 2 PM at this point.<br /><br />I was escorted back upstairs and I realized my Dad and stepmom had been there for an hour and I'd not spoken to them since the aforementioned text I sent just prior to the Caesarean decision. &nbsp;They'd heard the code yellow and managed to get some nurses to tell them that it was Rachel so they knew what to expect. &nbsp;I found them in the waiting room and hugging and sobs ensued. &nbsp;I had (and still do) have a lot of pent up emotion about everything that had transpired. &nbsp;I went to get Elin from the nursery and by this time she'd had a bath and was fed, clean, swaddled, and content. &nbsp;With my parents, I wheeled her back to the room in which they were letting me stay. &nbsp;At some point someone came to say that I could finally go into the ICU to see Rachel so I dropped Elin back off at the nursery and went down with my parents. At some point during all of this, my parents forced me to eat a sandwich as I'd not eaten since around seven or eight that morning.<br /><br />I had them wait outside as I went into her ICU room and words cannot describe that sight. &nbsp;Rachel was hooked up to every possible machine imaginable, including a&nbsp;respirator, with a tube down her throat. &nbsp;That's not a sight I would wish for anyone to see. &nbsp;She was completely unconscious and unresponsive to my voice.<br /><br />I don't remember how long I was there but eventually went back upstairs and said goodbye to my parents insisting that I didn't need anything. &nbsp;Next to arrive was my friend Ashley and then her fiancé, Dov. &nbsp;They helped me get my clothes and stuff from the car to bring to the room. &nbsp;I don't remember if they saw Elin then or not but at some point they, too left. &nbsp;My sister came down last and met her boyfriend Matt there. &nbsp;By that time I had gotten Elin from the nursery and needed to do some bonding as I'd really only seen her twice since the ordeal began. &nbsp;My sister held her for a while and after they left I removed my shirt and lay on the bed for some skin-to-skin contact with my daughter, which is über important for the bonding. &nbsp;We lay there for 30-45 minutes and when I started to realize that I was dozing off, I brought her back to the nursery. &nbsp;I returned to my room, got ready for bed and passed out.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-51404434213685226472011-02-05T13:16:00.000-07:002011-02-05T13:16:14.639-07:00Different StrokesOver the past few years I've asked my Master's swim instructor about proper stroke technique. &nbsp;To his credit each time he's said the same thing. &nbsp;I don't know if something just finally clicked or I actually started paying attention to my stroke and applying what he said because when your stroke is on, you really move and it seems to take less effort.<br /><br />He said it makes sense because when your stroke mechanics are on, you are using more than just your arms. &nbsp;Your lats, back, and core all get involved and with the added muscles, you have more power and if you're rotating your body correctly, you have less drag. &nbsp;I believe this is why when he gave us a 6x[100m @1:20, 75m @1:25] I was actually able to do the 100s and still get rest when normally 1:20 is way out of my league. &nbsp;This was Tuesday. &nbsp;Last night we had 4x300m @4:30 with increasing blocks of 25s in between. &nbsp;While the 300s were on a 1:30 base, I was getting at least 10 seconds rest after each one and it was without paddles. &nbsp;In fact, I didn't need paddles the entire workout - which is a first for me in a while.<br /><br />I hope the speed continues in the water and carries over to my races.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786881017477134176.post-8346439454707514342010-12-16T16:11:00.000-07:002010-12-16T16:11:59.165-07:00The Last RunI went on my last run at lunch today; my last run because my last day is tomorrow.<br /><br />It was cold out but wasn't unbearable in the sun.&nbsp; And after I started my intervals, I stopped feeling the cold.<br /><br />Afterwards it felt weird to finish cleaning out my locker in a room that used to be our janitor's closet but was now our company locker room (complete with showers).&nbsp; The vultures started circling and contacting me several days ago inquiring as to the availability of my locker.&nbsp; We now have over 100 employees and only 12 lockers.&nbsp; Locker space wasn't such a problem when there were only 30 of us.<br /><br />The way to leave a company is definitely to start taking your stuff home with you at least a week in advance.&nbsp; Tomorrow, I leave with what I came with, and just an external hard drive, a coffee mug, and the water bottle sitting on my desk.&nbsp; I wish I could take my dual monitors, but I think my new company gives developers dual monitors so my withdrawal won't be for long.Adam Gordonhttps://plus.google.com/103010694473134015748noreply@blogger.com0